#ordered pair

[math-journal2]

[jay-soaring]

I love eye-themed podcasts.

[canisalbus]

Three Machetes and one Vasco was spotted at Kyiv street market this weekend

Aowh ;m; 🧡

(The artist is FunnyAnimalsCeramics on Etsy! They're based in Kyiv)

[ladysiryna]

Thou'rt yet to become me. Thou'rt yet to become a god.

Marika and Radagon.

[paracosmicka]

okay idea

like does this make sense

idk my brain was bored even tho i wanted to keep drawing my sonadow fankids this weekend but i don’t think that’s gonna happen

ok but fr tho my mindset changes from “pure fluff sonadow so cute soft” to “i need to make a doohickey right now” like phases of the moon it’s fucking crazy and i don’t like it actually

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[cowchickenbeefpork]

Gotham lps headcanons…

Hope you enjoyed the suffars of my labor here…..idk if I’ll do more since this took way too much time than it needed to take…

[seahorsepencils]

also can we just talk about the fact that in the Wish World, a woman can get away with calling another woman beautiful without setting off everyone's queer panic, but when a man does it to a man, it tips over the edge? so the Kates of the world are flying just under the radar, but are likely to be more emotionally repressed as a result - and yet, all the queer or queer-coded characters in this world are offered the same security and protection from doubt by the prospect of entering into an opposite-sex marriage...

[sieglinde-freud]

this is the most attractive laslow ever has been and ever will be and its when he’s 1) 5 seconds away from certain death and 2) defying all orders against god for a prince that was never meant to be his. if im xander im ditching corrin im ditching nohr im picking up this skinny little man by the waist and bookin it what the hell are you joking

[brosauce]

"we?" what do you mean by "we" dedf1sh? 🤨

[againaweasel]

I know the idea that ‘no one at all shipped Remus and Tonks before HBP’ is a popular statement in the marauders fandom these days

… but, like, are you prepared to find out that that’s not true??

[seaglassdinosaur]

Hoping wishing praying begging that Kenny doesn’t get put in a relationship with a cop.

[mychemicaltriptothezoo]

Gerard as this plant pot thingy from outside the mall I went to yesterday

[astriiformes]

Been getting real tired of the quality of modern jeans (and modern clothing in general, but I wear jeans in particular almost every day) so I tracked down and ordered a couple 80s/90s pairs on a whim the other day and god. Only one of them fits, which is the danger of shopping online (which is fine, I'll probably just resell the other pair), but I can feel the difference. They're so much sturdier, even if it means I'm going to have to break them in a little. And I've been coming to the realization that I look better in high-waisted things anyways, so I even like the style more.

Anyway. Guess I'm never buying anything made after the year 2000 ever again, unless it's from a specialty shop. It's not like these were even wildly more expensive that a new pair goes for these days.

[snapscube]

they say a honeyed wine make a lady feel free,

so i pour a gift to you from me!

🍷💃🏻

[cent-scratchnsniff]

something bad did indeed happen to that man. spent abt 25 minutes trying to find a better picture of that one (1) offical piece with his eyes open that wasnt compressed or tiny